What's Zayn Malik Going To Do If He Quits Music?

If you're a One Direction fan: check your pulse and breathe deeply. If you're friends with any 1D fans, maybe you should send them a text just to check in on their mental health, because it seems like the unthinkable has happened: Zayn Malik has left One Direction. So what made him abandon ship? And will Zayn Malik quit music now that he's left? It seems like he may need a respite from the music world altogether — so how is he gonna fill that time?

First of all, kudos to Zayn for doing what Kim Kardashian could not do before him: he's broken the internet, or at least flooded it with Zayn-only news with his announcement that he would be leaving and that One Direction would continue as a four-piece. Though he's caused what seems like a world of pain and sorrow to his fans, Zayn, who is only 22, said that he felt "in his heart" that this was the right time to leave so he could regain some semblance of a normal life. Which is understandable, of course, but still — tragic news for fans.

You go right on ahead and live, Zayn. How exactly will that look, though? Is he leaving so early because he wants to get a jump start on being a family man? He's been in a Very Long Engagement with his boo, Little Mix member Perrie Edwards, since 2014. Maybe they are jetting off to an undisclosed tropical island that perhaps Zayn commissioned to have artificially created to have a peaceful wedding and long honeymoon. You know, AWAY FROM THE HATERS that blame Little Mix for Zayn's "demise" and leaving 1D. Stop trying to make a Yoko Ono villain out of everyone, please!

But Zayn is a man with many talents. He could have hung up his 1D hat in favor for a different career — the silver screen, baby! Who wouldn't watch Zayn Malik as the next posterboy for every slight variation of a Nicholas Sparks novel? And you KNOW there are bound to be limitless John Green book-to-screen adaptations, and Ansel Elgort can't come back for all of them. If he wanted to go smaller, though, I'd suggest Zayn head straight to E! (if they haven't already reached out to him) to book a Keeping Up With kind of show, — like Keeping Up With Zany Zayn (you can have that one for free, Malik).

What else? The boy is wealthy, he's good-looking, and he has great stage presence. If you added in a little slime, he could go straight into politics. He's not American, sure, but who cares?

Or, maybe even a book deal could come next! Wait, you might say. He's only 22; how could he write a memoir? To which I have to say: Zayn Malik has lived ten years for every one of yours! Can you imagine what kind of juicy secrets he has to share about One Direction gossip and Simon Cowell and all the dangerous things fans have done to get a little piece of the band? Fans would eat that book up, (even though they'd all be understandably freaking out so hard that their eyes would blur and they couldn't read the pages). Obviously a book tour is a given.

But that's not exactly the kind of stuff that is indicative of having the kind of idyllic, regular joe life that Zayn seemed to want when he issued his statement. Maybe Z. Malik is GOING BACK TO SCHOOL. Do you think he will have a dorm room and a roommate that leaves Taco Bell bags everywhere? That's really a slice of regular life, Zayn, I'll tell you that much.

Honestly, because Zayn is Zayn, it's doubtful that his reprieve from public life should last very long. With a face like that, you kind of owe it to the world that loves you so dearly to show it every once in a while.

But for now, whatever he chooses to do, I hope it is as normal as possible to fall in line with his wishes. Good luck in whatever new direction you take your life, Zayn!

Images: Getty (3).